Infection!

Friday was another day like every other of the past few weeks. I had a lot of clinic emails, but no requests for work, so I read a lot and even did some gardening because it is so mild right now. When I got up at 5:00 am this morning, it was 7°. It’s nice when it’s this mild. I don’t feel that I must light the fire as soon as I get up.

Last week, when moving a rock, I got a scrape on my left ankle. It was just a minor scrape, so I covered it with a bandage and carried on. Well… yesterday as I was reading, I was suddenly struck by electric pains shooting up my leg and soon my entire leg was seriously painful. I could not do anything but move around to keep the pain at bay.

Finally, I took of my sock and rolled up my pantleg, planning to take off the bandage and clean my wound, and my entire lower leg was discoloured. I clearly had an infection, so I cleaned the wound as best I could and slathered it with Polysporin. 

For quite a while I was really scared because of my friend Mike Wilmot. Mike tread on a small nail when he was working on his roof in North Vancouver. He thought nothing of it. He carried on working all that week, but by Friday, he called his partner, Nicky, who was at their home on Vancouver Island. She came home to care for him, but he died the morning after she arrived. He had Septicemia. Ever since, I’ve been frightened of infections.

Today, my leg looks and feels much, much better. I’m relieved. I’ll have a comfortable day today doing little but read and putter.